Next month, Sandi, Carissa, and I are going to go to Egypt and Jordan. For me, this is going to be the trip of a lifetime and it’s largely thanks to Sandi. I’ve wanted to visit Egypt since the King Tut exhibit came to Chicago when I was a kid, and now I’m going to get the chance.
In the last several months, as we’ve been planning the trip, we’ve decided that Celia and Sadie aren’t going to make the trip. This partly due to security: it will be much more difficult to watch 3 kids than one, but also because the trip is going to be very expensive. Sandi’s going to make it up to the two younger ones by taking them to Germany in the late spring. Besides, Carissa is the only one who is really interested in Egypt like I am.
We added Jordan to the trip primarily so that we can go see Petra, which is one of those places that Sandi has always wanted to go see. The site is probably most famous in pop culture as the site where Indiana Jones finds the Holy Grail.
We also settled on booking through a tour group. We had considered doing everything ourselves, but it seems like it can be difficult to plan in advance in Egypt, and we didn’t want to spend our days in Egypt trying to plan the next stop. We do this when we are travelling in the US, but we also understand how the system works better.
I’m busy now, happily planning how we are going to document the trip. We’ve promised Carissa’s teacher that she will make a video of the trip to show the class. I’m trying to make sure we are prepared to do the principle photography. 
I’m also hoping that we can post picture of the trip as we go, but I’m not sure how often we will have internet access, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.
Here is an overview of what we’re planning to do:
- A tour of Sakkarra, famous for it’s Stepped Pyramid, Dahshur, with it’s famous Bent and Red Pyramids plus the new Imhotep museum.
- A visit to the Giza Plateau with the seventh wonder of the world, Cheop’s Pyramid and the inscrutable Sphinx.
- A visit to the solar boat museum.
- A visit to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum where we will see King Tut’s treasures.
- A tour of the famous temples of Ramses in Abu Simbel (I’m the only one who will be on this part since it requires a very early morning flight out into the desert.
- At Aswan, we cross the Nile by Felucca (native sailboat) and ride a camel to visit St. Simeon’s Monastery ruins.
- We sail to Elephantine Island, site of some of Egypt’s oldest antiquities and a wonderful Nubian village.
- On the east bank of the Nile, visit the Temple of Philae and the Nubian Museum.
- Drive to Luxor stopping along the way to visit the Temples at Kom Ombo and Edfu.
- Visit the Necropolis of Thebes where we will see the Colossi of Memnon, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut plus visit tombs of a King, a Queen, a Prince, a Nobleman and an Artisan.
- Visit the famous Temples of Karnak and Luxor.
- A tour of Old Cairo with its famous churches and synagogue, the Citadel of Salah el Din, and the Khan el Khalili bazaar.
- Fly to Amman then depart for Petra driving the famous King’s Highway stopping along the way at Mataba, the village of mosaics, Mt. Nebo (namesake of a classic Atherton family joke) and the crusader castle at Keruk.
- Spend the day at Petra and attend the candle light ceremony at the treasury in the evening.
Whew. We’ve got all that packed into 12 days, including the travel from the US to Cairo!
